Piston cleaning apparatus



May 29, 1945.] A sTmE 2,376,945

PI STON CLEANING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 1, 1945 s Sheets-Sheet 1 y c. A. STlNE 2,376,945

I PISTON CLEANING APPARATUS Filed Feb. l, 1943 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 1, 194s 3 Shets-Sheet 5 i v fil hzfirx E CarZJQSZZHE;

Patented May 29, 1945 PISTON APPARATUS Carl A. Stine, Van Nuys, Calif., assignor to Turco Products-Ina, Los Angeles, Calif., acorporation of California Application February 1, 1943, Serial No. 474,312

3 Claims. (01. 15-21) -My invention has to do with cleaning methods and apparatus and in itsmore particular aspects it relates to cleaning internal combustion engine pistons and the like;

The pistons of internal combustion engines be come coated with. carbonaceous deposits which require removal. Heretofore this has been done either by means of scraping or by immersing the piston in a chemical solution which dissolves the deposit. One'of the shortcomings of such methods, however, has been the unduly long time element' required for-the operation. Thisis particularly objectionable when the pistons are being cleaned in the field, as in the case'of cleaning the pistonsof airplane motors, when it is necessary to return the craft to use as soon as possible.

I have found that the cleaning operation can be considerably speeded up and improvedby applying rotary brushes to the pistons while immersed in the cleaning solution and, in itsbroader aspects, my invention contemplates such a method and novel means for carrying'it out,

Another object of the invention is the provision of a simple apparatus for relatively moving the brushing elements and the object being cleaned.

Another object is the provision, in such an apparatus, of brush elements which are adjustable and movable radially towards and workbeing cleaned. H

Another object is the provisionof means for automatically moving the brushesinto and out of engagement with the object being cleaned by virtue of raising and lowering of the cover lid of the tank or cabinet in which the assembly is housed.

While I have enumerated some of the major features of my invention, there are still further and subordinate advantages inherent in the invention, and how those as Well as the features enumerated are achieved will be best understood from a detailed explanationof a presently preferred embodiment, for which'purpose I shall refer to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a vertical section;

Fig. 2 is a reduced plan section taken on line 22 of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a reduced plan section taken on line 3 3 of Fig, 1;

Fig. 4 is a reduced vertical section;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentarysection taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 1; I

away from the Fig. 6 is a fragmentary section taken on line 66 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 7 is a reduced fragmentary section similar to Fig. 4 but showing the tank-lid raised; and

Fig. 8 i a fragmentary enlarged sectional view showing a variational form of work holding means. 7 I

Referring now to the drawings, I show a tank or cabinet C capable of containing a cleaning so-' lution suitable for the cleaning operation to be performed, many such solutions being well known in the art. Tank C has a bottom wall 5, and walls 5a, 5b, oppositeside walls 5c. and a cover 511 hinged at 6. A horizontal partition wall 8 is secured in the tank by means of brackets 9 and bolts'and nuts [0. Wall 8 has openings 8a, 8b, 80 for the purpose to be described.

Within wall opening 80 I mount a bushing l2 for a shaft [4 which passes downwardly through a bearing [5 secured to the partition by cap screws l6. Shaft [4 has secured to its lower end, as by a. set screwll, a sprocket 18. The shaft is held against longitudinal movement by means of the bearing I5 and a collar 20, the collar being secured to the shaft by a set screwZl- The upper end of the shaft is of reduced diameter to present an annular shoulder 23 and an outer bifurcated top end 24. A base plate 25 hasa central opening 25a through which the shaft l4 passes so that the plate rests against shoulder 23. A work supporting block or table is secured on the upper 7 end of the shaft by means of a T plate3l. This block 30 is here shown as being. particularly adaptable to hold a conventional piston against rotation relative to the block, the block being rectangular in cross-section and fitting between opposite journal portions J of the supported; piston P. n

Secured to partition'B undereach opening 8b, by cap screws 4|, I provide a pair of oppositely disposed angle iron tracks 40 between which there is a T-shaped space'40a along which-a bearing member 45.is slidable. A stop plate, is secured to the under face of tracks 40 atone end to stop further movement of the bearing ;at the proper point relative to the Work. A shaft ll-is jour- 52a, and a plunger 54 is reciprocally mountedin the cylinder, being resiliently urged outwardly by Flee? I Y a coil spring 55' and being held against rotation by a cotter pin 56, which pin is slidable in the I slot 521) in the cylinder. A brush member 51 is secured. to the lowerendof the piston, the brush I having a bristle portion adaptedto wipingly engage against the top surface of the piston P being cleaned.

Secured to the rearside wall c, exteriorly of f the tank there is a motor mount- BO-upon which a conventional electricgrnotor M is mounted. A

, shaft 62 is journalled in a bearing 63 carried by a housing 64 secured to wall 5a,- a sheave 615 being secured to the outer. end of shaft 62 anda bevel ear 66 being secured totheopposite'endof said shaft, and a drive belt, 61: operating the shaft from a drive pulley 68 secured to the motor drive shaft. A second bevel gear. .69 meshing with gear 66 is secured outside the cabinet'C't'o the upper end of a drive shaft ,10, which shaft is iournell dinthe a n ry part of the cover l d and ma bearing H carriedby the partition wa 8., a drive sproc 3 being secured o the werend' of, vthe ri e" sha t By m in t shaft 101 through the'lid 5d of'the'solutio n c0111- tainingcabinet O, I" avoidtlienecessity of packine- . y'A 'ch'ain belt drives the sprockets, I6, 59 from the drivesprocket T3 as'bestshown in plan i'n'Fig. 3, there being an idlersprocket 1 '1- jour- 'nalled-in an' arm- 18, which arm "is pivotally mounted on the partition wall 8' by means of cap screw. 19 andpost'llfl. ;A,coil spring-8i secured at oneend to the arm 18 and at'its other end to 'anend: wall of' the [cabinet .yieldably holds the To slide bearingmembers' 415' and their carried shafts and brush elements towards and away "from' the work holder 39, to-facilitate applying and removing-thework, I-weldone end of a slide bar- 49 to each bearinglt, as shown at 49a, and

, "each slide bar is longitudinallyslidably' mounted in the space 49a between angle track members 40. A dependingretractor arm 8'5is carried-by, each of the slide bars 49am} each of these arms is pivot-ally connected,-bymeans ofalink 86, to

the lower end 'ofa bell crank 8! pivotal-1p carried by -a post-1:88 mounted on=the partition wall*" 8.

Pivotallysecured'to-theotherend of the crank or I provide asquarer'l'irod 90 which issl-idably supported lay' a bracket ,9l "secured to the end wall; -Each rod 99- is tapped from its top to re- 'ceive aacapscrew 92' to holda reta-inerwasher 93, between which washer and bracket 9L1 dispose a compression spring" 94 which normally urges the rod 96 upwardly-l A tension spring 95, secured at one-endto theretractorarm 85 andat its otherend to the end Wall-5a, normal-1y urges the slide plate 49 away from-fthe work P. The

capscrews-SZ; Y V r While I ,have described only. one 'retractine compression of springs- 9 t may beadjusted by the vmechanism, itwill. be understood; that. there; is

one. of; such mechanisms fer; ea h brush. 5.0 and th r are,-,,th same so at, both brushes. 48; are simultaneously moved towards or away, from the work, I Eachv of the rods, 99 is. long. enough, that when the. lid. Eli/is raised the isprings' 9.4; $95

cause the 'upperendof each rod to project above the plane of the top of the cabinet wallsjand'thus f retract the brushes 48" from engagem'ent' with the work P. Lifting ofthe "lid also lifts brush 151 from engagement-with the topof the 'piston P.

This frees" the work to be removed fromthe holderv 30. Conversely, wh'en'the lid Sdisclos ed down, it engages the outerends oftherods190 may beutilized'in asingle tank the brushes into engagement? with the work. I-

show a heating element E for use in cases where it. is desired to heat the cleaning solution in the cabinet; Upon starting the motor, the belt 15 drives the brushes 48 and'the work carrying shaft M in the same direction so that the brushes disposed oneach-sideof the piston engagethe piston being cleaned, I, find it desirable to have the ratio of the work. rotating sprocket I8 to the brush driving sprockets 50 of the order of 2 to I so so that the brushes rotate at a substantially greater-speed than the work. v W

In operation, the bristles of thebrushes 48, 51 bearing against the piston immediately remove any carbonaceous *deposit'which the cleaning chemical has attacked and loosened, leaving the surface freely exposed at all times to-the cleaning chemical. As a resultof this combined actionof the brushes and chemicals, the cleaning operation is completed in much lessitime' than would be required for" either a chemical cleaning operation or ascraping operation alone.

brushes 4& causes: the solution; to act more efficiently.

pacity for cleaning" one piston at.a.-time, it will be understood: thatra multiplicity of such units and driverrby a common drive element.

In Fig. 8 I show a variational work holding structure. Here the piston B being cleaned: is detachably mounted over a wood block 39a, which has a, central bore H10; A metal sleeve lll'l longitudinally slottedat; 102,. is mounted in the bore,

being: held therein bya cross pin [03. transverse drive, key l-M extends: through slotrlUZ. and a transverse slot in the rotatable shat-tidal to cause rotation ot'the sleeve and'the carried block as the shaftis rotated'. For different sized-pistons P blocks 30a of corresponding sizes would beused.

While I have resorted to considerable detail tor the purpose'of making my invention understood. I wish it understood. that within the broader scope of'my-inventi'on, as'd'efined by the appended claims, various modifications and adaptations may be made without. departing fromthe-spiritlof theinvention.

Iclaim; m I r 12., Cleaningappairatus: comprising, in combination, atank adaptedzto hold agclea'ning solution, a coverlid, swingablymounted; on the ta'nlda work holder rotatably mounted the tank, a journal member mounted; intlitankfor lateral sliding movement relative to. the work holder; a

brush shaft journalled in the journal member for rotation about: an axis parallelzto the: axis of rotation of the work holder a brush mounted axially on the shaft; meansresp'onsiveto swinging movementot' the cover lid: to: slide the journal member, and means for rotating the work holder andshaft.

2'. Cleaning apparatus comprisng'Ja tank, a:

cover on the tank, av wo'rkyholdert 'rotatably mounted in-the. arjourn'altmemher mountv ed theJta-nk for lateral; sliding movement; rela- I I find that thevagitation of the solution in cabinet 0- by the 2,376,945 tive to the axis of the work holder, a brush shaft 3. Cleaning apparatus comprising a tank adapted to contain a cleaning solution, a hinged cover lid on the tank, a pair of juxtaposed shafts journalled for rotation in the tank, a rotary brush secured on one of the shafts,'a work support secured on the other shaft whereby to hold work in position to be radially engaged by the brush,

means for simultaneously rotating the shafts,

means for moving one of the shafts laterally with respect to the other whereby to free thev brush from engagement with the work carried on the work support, the last-mentioned means in-' cluding a bar slidably mounted in the tank and operatively engaging the brush carrying shaft, a bell crank operatively connected to the bar and means movable by virtue of movement of the cover lid to move the bell crank.

- CARL A. STINE. 

